Excerpt: The Trinity Girls - Book 1: The Schaffer Legacy

Pushing her way through the crowd, Mariah finally found her friends. She noted the position of the jock tables from the book as well as the artsy kids. Those were the two main groups. Everyone else was scattered as they pleased. Marching forward, she found her friends and she sat down in front of Sadie next to Reagan. Reagan had her salad, Sadie had a nice homemade sub and Mariah

“I never realized how huge this place was,” Mariah mused gently, temporarily forgetting earlier anxieties.

“I know, man!” Reagan replied, “I had to get from the gym to the Languages wing for English class. Crazy!”

“I like my Journalism teacher, she’s nice!” Sadie told her friends, “Ms. Alvarez. Exactly the way Sasha said she would be.”

“I know, it’s creepy!” Reagan responded, “Mr. Atkins and Ms. Aiken are exactly the way they were described in the book. Aiken, a bit of a psycho workout buff. Atkins, hilarious old guy. And my science teacher, Richards, looks like a friggin’ senior. It’s kinda funny!”

“I just want this day to be over,” Mariah said as she released a bit of a yawn, “I keep seeing this face…”

“The cute one?” Sadie asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

“Yeah, except taller and older, a senior I think,” Mariah replied with a shrug, “It’s driving me nuts!”

“Then it’s a sign,” Sadie replied, “You have to find him. Both of them, if you’re so inclined to do that.”

“I don’t think that older brother would talk to me…” Mariah’s voice trailed off as she spoke.

“Get over yourself, Mariah!” Reagan exclaimed, “Seriously. You gotta at least find the sophomore; otherwise I’m gonna smack some sense into you.”

“And how exactly do you expect to go about this crazy man hunt?” Mariah asked.

“I don’t really know but I bet the book has answers!” Reagan countered quickly.

Mariah pulled the binder out of her backpack. “The only section I know of right now is the ‘how to find new friends’ section, it’s the third one,” she explained, “I didn’t get past that part.”

Tips on how to find new friends
- investigate clubs
- check out the sports teams
- chat up a random person
- talk to someone new in the caf

“This advice is lame!” Reagan exclaimed, “We need to do a little more than this if we’re going to cover enough ground to find this guy.”

Sadie’s eyes drifted down the page to something scribbled in Sasha’s handwriting.

To find someone, you must think like them.

She pointed the sentence out to Mariah and Reagan, who then exchanged looks. Mariah wasn’t sure she liked the way Reagan’s eyes had lit up; it usually meant trouble.

“You know, before you even say anything, Reagan, we need to narrow the search down,” Sadie warned her, “There are a ton of sophomores out there.”

Reagan pulled out the red binder and turned to the second page. “All right,” she said with a tone ready for business, “Let’s figure this out then!”

Sadie gave Mariah her ‘What is she high on?’ look who simply shrugged.

“Okay, but all we know about this guy is that he’s a sophomore, he’s got this sandy blond hair and baby blue eyes, and he’s got an older brother in the school who has a very similar face,” Mariah pointed out, “How are we supposed to find this guy?”

“My instinct is that he’s a jock,” Reagan replied, “I have a sixth sense about these things.”

“It’s a good place to start, but I think we should check the artsy crowd,” Sadie said, “I mean, Mari, what was he wearing?”

“Buttoned up shirt, sweater vest.”

“We’re definitely going to the artsy crowd first. Hat or no hat?”

“He wasn’t wearing one this morning.”

Reagan recorded the exchange between Sadie and Mariah and added her own thoughts. “Okay, so we’ll hit up the artsy kids, emphasis on the theater kids,” she stated for clarification, “Right?”

“We should check in at the newspaper too,” Sadie added, “He could possibly be a writer type.”

Mariah shrugged; she wasn’t so sure this search was a good idea and if Reagan wanted to go for it, it was her prerogative. He was rather attractive and her best friend would appreciate that.

“You know, I’m only going along with this cause you want to find this guy, Reagan,” Mariah said, wanting to clear things up, “You know I really don’t care if we find this guy or not.”

“Yeah, right,” Reagan replied, “We know deep down you’re curious.”

Reagan was right about this and Mariah couldn’t deny it. Sadie even had her ‘I’m not buying it’ look. Maybe she was a little curious but Reagan’s tunnel vision was making her see something that wasn’t really there. Yes, there was curiosity, but it wasn’t like she just HAD to find this guy. It wasn’t a big deal!